You Still Gotta Talk To People
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If you’re selling a service…
Especially one you will personally be delivering…
Even if your marketing is SPECTACULAR…
I’m afraid…
You still have to actually talk to people.
I was having a conversation with a brilliant colleague/mentor the other day, and she let slip that she’s only ever closed a high-ticket client in the DMs alone once.
Have I closed high-ticket clients in the DMs alone? I wondered. Kinda. But only clients I already had a relationship with. I’d worked with them before, or we’d met at a networking thing and chatted, or I’d somehow talked with them first.
I checked around with other entrepreneurs I admired. Yeah. Mostly the case. And these are entrepreneurs with healthy, admirable, successful businesses that have lasted without them burning out.
Most of us find that it’s much easier and less awkward to have a conversation first, before pitching. An in-person conversation or, as is more often the case these days, over Zoom.
Because when you actually talk with someone, it’s easier to get a genuine sense of what that person needs. It’s easier to read emotional cues. It’s easier to know which offer is a good match, or whether they’re not a good match to work with you at all. That’s why we’ve all got Zoom Coffees or Discovery Calls etc. on our schedulers and/or why we teach free classes with open Q & As from time to time.
As much as us introverts love the thought of just throwing marketing out there and having people hit checkout without us ever having to have a vulnerable exchange… it’s just not how it usually goes.
First clients tend to be people you’re already connected to somehow, or folks who have been referred to you by someone who already knows and loves you enough to vouch for you.
And for the unicorns who can/do just throw a high-ticket offer out there and watch the sales roll in, they tend to have already had so many conversations and interactions with clients that they know just how to message their offer perfectly so their clients can glean everything they need to know from their marketing alone. And these folks are still teaching free webinars and masterclasses where prospective clients can interact with them live.
I tell my clients all the time: it took at least 2 years into marketing my business for me to be able sell something from a single post or a single email.
That was 2 years of experimenting with my messaging and honing it after having real conversations with real clients, flagging what I said in successful sales calls, adjusting based on not wanting to attract bad-fit clients and projects after not-so-great experiences.
Not that it has to take you that long.
But.
Your marketing gets better the more you actually talk to people.
It’s a basic and powerful form of market research. (Qualitative!)
The more you talk to people - especially those whom you think would be good clients for you - the better your marketing gets.
You get a better sense of the messaging that works.
It helps you to picture who you’re actually saying all this to when you make the marketing.
It helps prospective clients feel safe with us because they can get a much deeper understanding of what it would be like to work with us. Ditto referral partners- they want to know they can trust you before sending you clients!
Yes, this is a vulnerable task.
For some: more vulnerable than posting again on social media to a few likes and still no sales. More vulnerable than their business failing. More vulnerable doing what everyone else says they “should” do to be professional and financially safe even though it leaves them hating their life.
So they stay stuck whispering into the void that they have an offer for sale- safe from getting what they think they want.
But if you want to grow your business, book out your 1:1s, sell out your membership, etc…
If you want the responsibility of more clients, more sales, more money, more team members, more collaborators, more visibility…
The cost of admission is:
Asking for it so people can hear you.
Risking being told “no” on a large scale. Then doing it again tomorrow. And the day after. And so on and so forth.
In other words:
Vulnerability is required.
“Shame dies when stories are told in safe spaces.”
When looked at through a harsh lens, vulnerability can lead to shame.
When looked at through a supportive lens, vulnerability = courage, and taking the courageous action brings confidence.
That’s why my favorite thing to offer you is Marketing Confidence Cheerleading.
To help you take the courageous actions that will bring you real results.
To help you tell your story and tell it again until you find out just how magical it is.
To hype you up and cheer you on, but also hold you accountable to your dreams.
To provide you with a whole Squad 🎉 of courageous entrepreneurs to cheer you on as you make big bold moves in community.
Need that? Let’s connect.
Here’s how I can be your 🌻🛼 Marketing Confidence Cheerleader 🛼🌻:
We can work together 1:1 in the high-touch, high-efficiency Season of Support container.
Or you can join my Squad 🎉 of excellently ethical and eccentric entrepreneurs. (Season of Support clients get complimentary Squad 🎉 membership.)
Know your sales, audience growth, and engagement are lower than you'd like, but not even sure where to start to fix it? The analysis paralysis is real! But I can help. One of my specialties is looking at a big old pile of data and extracting a clear next step. We can chat about it over a complimentary ☕ Zoom Coffee ☕! Grab a convenient time here.
